


Left To Face it Alone

by SterekFangirl



Series: Young Sterek Love [10]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Abandonment, Age Difference, Alpha Derek Hale, M/M, Mates Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Omega Stiles Stilinski, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 10:59:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17303375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SterekFangirl/pseuds/SterekFangirl
Summary: Stiles gets some bad news and has to decided how to handle it and winds up having to be more mature than his age should have to be.





	Left To Face it Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, my beautiful fangirls and fanboys!! Hope you like this. Just one thing!! I know the age difference is kind of hard for some people, but it is, in fact, a major part of the story line, and I can't, at the moment, omit that part of the story or it would screw everything up in the series. Luckily there are lots of great A/B/O fics about Sterek and if the age difference bugs you too much you can find some other great ones. Thanks for the love everyone!!!

Stiles was so proud of his mate. He sat there, trying so desperately to stay quiet and still as a million people came up to the stage and accepted their diplomas Stiles was eager to watch his mate do it.   
Cora just watched as he twitched with excitement and he glared at her. “Shut up,” He yelped as her judgemental brows furrowed, just like Derek’s.   
“I didn’t say anything,” Cora tried to defend herself.   
“Yeah, well, your stupid eyebrows did, so shut them up,” He grunted and ignored the fact that Talia seemed to be drawing amusement from their situation.   
Stiles saw Derek stand and instantly shushed everyone, even though he’d been one of the only two talking.   
Derek walked, with the grace only a werewolf could have and accepted the little roll from the principal. He stood on stage for a quick moment before spotting Stiles. Derek waved and smiled, more like grinned, at Stiles.   
Laura cooed at them, as Cora rolled her eyes.   
Derek sat back down with his class, and Stiles beamed with pride. 

When the ceremony was over when Derek stood and came to greet his family Stiles jumped up and jumped on Derek, wrapping his legs around Derek and squeezed. “Yay! You did it!” He yelled and Derek didn’t even flinch when he heard his mate’s shriek in his ear.   
“Yeah.” Derek didn’t say more than that. He just buried himself in Stiles’ neck and kissed where they’d finally bond once Stiles was sixteen. They could wait till April.   
Stiles slowly dropped from Derek’s arms and allowed Cora to nuzzle between them and wrap her own arms around Derek. Stiles stepped away and allowed the Hales to swarm Derek with love and congratulations.   
“Thanks, guys,” He offered and hugged his mom the longest. “Love you guys,” He whispered. He wanted it to be a private and intimate confession, and he even looked at Stiles for a long while.   
There were coos from his family and then they all dispersed, the parents to talk to other parents, the kids to their significant or friends, leaving Stiles and Derek alone.   
Derek tugged his mate off of the field where the graduation was held and to the back of the school and to the outdoor courtyard.   
Stiles followed along giddily and smiled as Derek whisked them about the school and courtyard until they found a nice, peaceful tree with a clearish spot beneath it. There was nobody else in the entire courtyard, and it was quiet. Away from the horde of people.   
Derek was always so tense, but now he was loose. Looser than Stiles had ever seen him public, and he seemed to have drawn some childlike youth from his siblings for a moment because as soon as they were under the tree Derek was kissing him and pushing and pulling and licking and nuzzling. Stiles’ eyes blurred as too much was happening to him at once.   
“Der,” He huffed and felt the Alpha pull back a bit.   
“Stiles,” Derek cooed and leaned into Stiles' hand that he rested on the older boy’s cheek. “I love you, you know that?” He asked and suddenly Stiles was worried. Of course, he knew that, but Derek rarely ever said it, and when he did it meant something.   
“Der? What’s wrong?” Stiles didn’t want to know, he was sure he didn’t, but he also knew he had to know.   
“I’m leaving. For college, in August.”   
Stiles felt the air knock out of his chest. “What?” He asked. He should have known that Derek was going to go to school after he graduated, but for some reason, it hadn’t crossed his mind.   
“I’m going to Rhode Island, for college,” Derek whispered, and tried to reach for Stiles, but Stiles jerked back until his back was flushed to the tree trunk behind him. Derek looked hurt that Stiles had backed away, but he didn’t come closer. “I won’t be gone long, I’ll be back on holidays, and you’ll be in school and you have Scott and lacrosse,” Derek tried, but not even he believed himself. “We call always call and text and Skype,” He supplied but Stiles was starting to shake.   
Stiles couldn’t breathe. “I-I just can’t,” He breathed out in short huffs and he ran from Derek. He was crying and felt like there was an anvil on his chest.   
He escaped from the courtyard and ran. He ran, in his slacks and button-up shirt and tie. He ran, black and white Adidas sneakers fighting against the rough asphalt. He came to his home before finally collapsing into his mother’s arms. He cried and she didn’t ask because she somehow knew he couldn’t tell her. 

Stiles had collected himself incredibly fast and that worried Claudia more than anything else. 

Stiles went to the Hale House the next morning and steeled himself. He told himself, when he woke up, that this is what Derek wanted. He wasn’t going to, no, he refused to hold Derek back. That was his second biggest fear. Right behind Derek actually forgetting about him.   
His dad drove him to the house and dropped him off before work.   
Stiles knocked for the first time in nearly four years. Talia opened the door and looked shocked to find her son’s mate who was honestly more like one of her own at this point, and she hadn’t seen him knock in a really long time.   
“Oh! Stiles! C’mon in,” She invited, waving him in. “I didn’t expect...well, you,” She admitted.   
“I know, but I kinda need to see Derek.” He waited for a reply and again, Talia looked confused She’d seen Derek come back to their group, sans Stiles, but she got an odd feeling that something just wasn’t right.   
“Alright, he’s in the backyard, training with Cora,” She told him and watched as he nodded solemnly.   
He walked to the backyard, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. Stiles spotted Derek and Cora play fighting, roughhousing and growling. Derek stopped within a moment of Stiles being outside and whined, running up to him and stopping at Stiles’ legs, nuzzling himself up to the younger boy.   
Stiles sighed. “C’mon Derek. Let’s go upstairs.”   
Derek whined. Stiles never called him by his full name.   
Stiles marched upstairs. Most days he’d just walk straight into his mate’s bedroom, but today he stood in front for a moment before asking Derek permission. The wolf whined but nodded.   
Stiles took in a breath and sighed. He sat on Derek’s bed and looked at the wolf that was just staring at him from the doorway. “Come on. Let’s talk,” He said, quiet and calm and it just felt wrong. “I need you in wolf form,” He added, turning his back so Derek would have privacy.   
He turned back around when he heard Derek’s voice. “What do you want to talk about?” The Alpha asked, and for the first time ever in front of Stiles, Derek looks nervous.   
“I want you to know I understand. I think it’s good you’re going to school,” He started and pushed forward, seeing Derek’s almost shocked look. “I know that this is important and I know you have to do it. Since you’re leaving in August I’d like to spend time with you still,” Stiles said diplomatically.   
Derek looked confused. He’d just assumed they’d keep hanging out over summer. They always hung out. Why wouldn’t they?   
Stiles immediately clarified. “But, because you are leaving soon, I’d like to keep everything PG-13, you know, hang out, but just as friends,” Stiles told his Alpha feeling his own heartbreak inside his chest.   
“What?!” Derek yelped, standing from where he’d been sitting next to Stiles. “What the hell Stiles?” He yelled and Stiles felt the Omega in him shrink.   
“I just think that, because you will be gone for so long and will be away for so long, it’d be best to not be ‘addicted’ to each other right before you leave. I don’t want to feel like I need something that’s on the other side of the country,” He tried to say without letting his voice break. He failed. Derek heard the break, heard his mate’s heart as it beat and could smell the sadness Stiles was trying to hide.   
Derek was suddenly hit with how unfair he’d been to Stiles. How unfair it’d be to refuse to just be friends while he was away. They were mates, they’d be together in the end, but for now, while they were young and would be apart, it was best to go easy for a while, as much as he’d hate it. “I understand.”   
Stiles nodded and felt simultaneously relieved and heartbroken at the same time. He knew this is what he’d asked for, and he believed everything he said, but he was still hurt. Hurt that Derek wanted to leave him-it was irrational, but that’s how he saw it, whether or not he understood why-Hurt that he’d thought he’d finally be able to call Derek his boyfriend without people being weird but now he couldn’t. Hurt that he’d be alone when Derek specifically told him he never would be again.   
“Sti,” Derek tried but his mate, Stiles, just shook his head.   
“It’s fine Derek, I should probably get going. I’m going to have dinner with my mom and dad.” That was something he hadn’t done alone since he was 11, but that’s what he’d be facing for the next couple of years. “Maybe we can hang out tomorrow. Text me when you have free time and I’ll see if I can get a ride,” Stiles finished holding back the whimper his Omega wanted to let out so desperately. Even though this was his idea, being friends was his doing, he still felt like he was being rejected and he needed to get out as fast as he could.   
Derek watched as his Omega, his mate, his boyfriend he’d thought, left and didn’t stay or didn’t invite him over. They’d hardly spent any time apart since they’d found each other, and now they were about to spend years apart and Derek suddenly realized how stupid he was accepting the scholarship in fucking Rhode Island.   
For the second time since Derek had got his license and started driving Stiles everywhere, Stiles asked James for a ride home. 

The next day found Stiles’ inbox empty of any messages from Derek, and Stiles crying loudly in his room, clutching a wolf stuffed animal Derek had won for him at the county fair when they were young. 

Derek didn’t want to pressure Stiles or make this harder, and so, over the summer they hardly saw each other. Derek worked on his lacrosse and fighting skills, running every morning and missing his little fox companion.   
His mother framed a picture of him and Stiles under a tree, Stiles’ head in Derek’s lap and Derek was leaning over his face, his face down and plastered with a smile.   
She didn’t know how much it meant to him. She also didn’t know how much it hurt him.   
When they did hang out it was always with their families or Erica and Boyd, and Derek fought against his wolf as Stiles sat next to Erica instead of next to him, and Stiles reeked of sadness and resignation. After that, they only saw each other at pack picnics and even then you’d never guess they were mates. 

By the end of the summer, they’d only seen each other ten-odd times. Derek texted him.   
I’m going to the airport tomorrow at 9. Come?   
Of course   
Came the quick reply.   
Half across town the younger boy choked down his sobs as his mother rubbed his back and he cried into the stuffed animal for the millionth time. 

Stiles had been there since 8:30. He was nervous and scared and sad, but he knew that this was for Derek’s future, and that was more important than whatever this shit Stiles was feeling was. He kept telling himself that it didn’t matter, Derek would still love him when he got back, that Derek would still be the Alpha he loved, but honestly, he wasn’t so sure.   
The Hales showed up at 8:45 and Stiles felt his heart pick up when he saw Derek. They hadn’t seen each other in over three weeks, and that hurt more than anyone could possibly know. He was soothed though, that at least Derek looked happy. Stiles would hate for Derek to be scared or sad. If his Alpha was happy he was happy.   
Stiles stood and approached the Hales, his nose being hit with their collective scent which smelled overwhelmingly like family. He took in a deep huff before smiling and joining the group. Laura squealed happily seeing him and hugged him tightly. It escaped nobody’s notice that his hair was duller and messier than normal, his clothes were bigger and hung more awkwardly on his shoulders, or that his skin was paler and more washed out than before.   
“You came! I haven’t seen you in forever!” She cooed in his ear until they pulled away.   
“Yeah, I couldn’t miss seeing Der off,” He said softly. The Alpha loosened his shoulders. Stiles hadn’t called him Der all summer, it was strictly Derek and it just felt so good to hear it again.   
“Well good. Derek, you’re plane takes off in fifteen minutes, why don’t we head over to there? Hmm?” Talia suggested, ever the voice of reason.   
The group followed her and Stiles felt the dread build in his stomach while everyone talked until it was five minutes until Derek had to board. The Hales all hugged their brother, son, and nephew, and bid Stiles adieu, leaving the two of them alone for the first time in three months.   
“Sti,” Derek whispered, quietly, hoping Stiles would know what he was trying to say.   
“I know Der, only a few years. A few months and you’ll be home for the holidays. Text me everyday okay? I don’t care what it’s about, or when, just do it,” He nearly cried, trying to keep the desperation and agony out of his voice.   
“I will baby, I will.” Derek hadn’t called him baby for far too long and Stiles melted under the nickname. “I love you, Stiles,” Derek whispered. It’d been too long since it’d been said and he let the relief he felt rolling off Stiles soak in.   
“I love you too Derek.” It was a strong, sure reply. Stiles knew he always had loved Derek and always would. He just worried it didn’t go the other way, would always go the other way.   
“Flight 201 is now boarding. Last call to board,” Rang the announcer and Stiles nearly cried. He didn’t want to hear that, didn’t want Derek to leave town. To leave him.   
Derek made up his mind. He dipped in for a moment and pressed his lips to Stiles’ in a rush and kissed him for the first time in far, far too long. “I love you, so much. I’ll miss you. Be safe,” He told his Omega before turning and leaving said Omega to face the rest of high school, to face the judgemental town that did nothing but persecute him, and to face the family that was falling apart faster than he could put it back together.


End file.
